Team Summerhttp://teamsummer.org
kids helping kids with cancerFri, 06 Feb 2015 17:20:30 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.1Nicholas Becomes a Team Summer Kid! | Team Summerhttp://teamsummer.org/2015/02/nicholas-becomes-team-summer-kid-team-summer/
http://teamsummer.org/2015/02/nicholas-becomes-team-summer-kid-team-summer/#commentsWed, 04 Feb 2015 03:13:51 +0000http://teamsummer.org/?p=1953 A year ago, Nicholas’ world got turned upside-down. He had been feeling really tired and rundown and did not know why. A blood test finally showed the reason: leukemia. Since then, things have not been easy for Nicholas. Along …

A year ago, Nicholas’ world got turned upside-down. He had been feeling really tired and rundown and did not know why. A blood test finally showed the reason: leukemia.

Since then, things have not been easy for Nicholas. Along with chemotherapy, he also needed a bone marrow transplant. His little brother was his donor. The procedure required Nicholas to spend weeks in isolation. Not easy for anyone, particularly a 14-year-old. Talk about boring.

Enter Team Summer kid Hunter! He knows just what it’s like to be stuck in a hospital being bored.

Having received a Team Summer gift himself a few months earlier, Hunter knew he could now give a Team Summer gift! At the cancer clinic one day, he talked to Nicholas and knew he was the one he wanted to help. He found out that Nicholas had always wanted an X-Box One gaming system. Thanks to your generous donations, Team Summer was able to buy one for Hunter to give to Nicholas. But on the day the gift was to be given, Hunter was not feeling well enough to attend. Fortunately, Team Summer kid Antonio was available to step in!

It worked out well, because Antonio had been battling the same disease as Nicholas and was about to have his very last treatment. Antonio could encourage Nicholas to keep fighting. We heard him say to Nicholas, “I found it really helps if you keep a positive attitude.”

Nicholas has one of the sweetest smiles imaginable, and it was so wonderful to see him happy that day. We got him lots of games to play on the X-Box, too, so boredom should not be a problem for Nicholas again for a very long time!

Hunter, great job reaching out despite being in the middle of your own fight with cancer! Antonio, thanks for dropping everything and stepping in when we needed you! Go Team Summer!

]]>http://teamsummer.org/2015/02/nicholas-becomes-team-summer-kid-team-summer/feed/0Surprises for Hunter! | Team Summerhttp://teamsummer.org/2014/11/many-surprises-hunter-team-summer/
http://teamsummer.org/2014/11/many-surprises-hunter-team-summer/#commentsWed, 26 Nov 2014 18:21:13 +0000http://teamsummer.org/?p=1934Twelve-year-old Hunter has been having a very hard time. Ever since he was diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year, his world has been turned upside down. It seems as if he’s spent more time in the hospital than …

Twelve-year-old Hunter has been having a very hard time. Ever since he was diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year, his world has been turned upside down. It seems as if he’s spent more time in the hospital than out, alternating between nausea and boredom. There was not much Team Summer could do about Hunter’s nausea, but former cancer patient and Team Summer kid Lacey had lots of ideas on how to help with his boredom!

Having battled cancer herself, Lacey knows what it’s like to spend countless hours in a hospital bed with nothing to do. Thanks to your generous donations, she was able to give Hunter something he had always wanted – a pair of red Beats headphones. And believe us, Hunter knows just how to tune out the world with Beats over his ears!

Then we added in a couple of new video games and, well, the boredom problem got better!

But there was something else we heard about that Hunter had always wanted. Hunter is a HUGE Falcons fan and particularly a HUGE fan of Falcon’s wide receiver Julio Jones. Using some of Team Summer’s connections, we were able to present Hunter with his very own Julio Jones jersey – autographed by the man himself! Thank you Julio and Terrin McKay for making this happen!

Hunter will be the first to tell you that having cancer as a kid is really, really tough. But at least on this day he had someone to talk to who really gets it – Team Summer kid Lacey. Someone who could show him her scars. Someone to give him hope that he, too, will get through this ordeal.

]]>http://teamsummer.org/2014/11/many-surprises-hunter-team-summer/feed/1The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship! | Team Summerhttp://teamsummer.org/2014/10/beginning-beautiful-friendship-team-summer/
http://teamsummer.org/2014/10/beginning-beautiful-friendship-team-summer/#commentsWed, 29 Oct 2014 00:29:14 +0000http://teamsummer.org/?p=1909Four-year-old Julia and three-year-old Addison have a lot in common. Both are battling cancer. Both have endured many trips to the hospital and struggled with difficult treatments like chemotherapy. Now they have something else in common. Something a lot more …

]]>Four-year-old Julia and three-year-old Addison have a lot in common. Both are battling cancer. Both have endured many trips to the hospital and struggled with difficult treatments like chemotherapy.

Now they have something else in common. Something a lot more fun. They are Team Summer friends!

They met in a play area in the hospital and then saw each other again at the cancer clinic. Addison had already gotten a Team Summer gift.Now it was her turn to give a gift, so she chose Julia!

If you watch Addison’s face closely (she’s wearing the pink shirt), you’ll see that giving is even better than getting!

Thanks to donations from wonderful people like you, Addison was able to give Julia a LeapPad 3 — a fun, learning computer for kids her age. Julia’s mother told us that Julia loves it! “She won’t let go of it! She sleeps with it!”

Certainly, the gift will distract Julia from what she has to endure – twenty spinal taps so far, for example – but more importantly, she has a positive connection to the hospital now. A new friend — one who really understands. Her mom says that when Julia walks through the doors of the hospital, she says, “Remember my Team Summer friend?” And when you have 14 more months of treatment left to go, a friend is a great thing to have.

Anyone can nominate a child with cancer to become a Team Summer kid! Just go to our website and click Nominate!